"It is often in the interests of adoptive parents and the adoption industry to imply that adoption is charity work..."

"... rather than something that benefits the adoptive parents as well. This perception of adoption as an act of altruism is exponentially more pronounced when Black kids are adopted by white parents. Mythologizing the role of those parents goes beyond just suggesting that adoptees are second-best choices to biological children. It implies that Black children need to be rescued by white people, and that makes white people feel good about doing it. This is often referred to as 'white savior syndrome,' which makes it sound like mild arrogance or a convenient delusion. I believe that’s too generous. The idea that Black children are automatically better off with nice white parents than their own biological parents is just white supremacy, which does not have to be produced by official hate groups to be insidious. It is often banal, and so commonplace that its ubiquitousness renders it just part of the background.... The Tuohys don’t regard themselves as racist... but the book and the film portray Mr. Oher in ways that serve to reinforce racist stereotypes.... ...Mr. Oher is referred to repeatedly as a 'freak of nature,' and... not mentally capable of understanding simple things. In the book, Mr. Oher is portrayed as literally not knowing what an ocean is...."

Writes Elizabeth Spiers, who was adopted, in "I Have a Pretty Good Idea Why Michael Oher Is Angry" (NYT).

By the way, do you know what the ocean is? The ocean. There's only one. Did you know?